Zimmaro: Erica Bradley leaving Lenape better than she found it

Mark Zimmaro @mzimmaro

Thursday

Oct 10, 2019 at 6:07 AM

A look at Burlington County high school volleyball

All good things must eventually come to an end.

The Lenape High School volleyball team entered the 2019 school year with a bittersweet feeling. Yes, it was the start of a new season and the time to build on two straight trailblazing campaigns. It is also a somber countdown to a heartfelt goodbye.

Head coach Erica Bradley and her husband Scott will be leaving after the season. Scott’s military duty has pulled him back to the Air Force Academy in Colorado, where the happy couple are from.

Bradley swept in two seasons ago like Mary Poppins and made an enormous impact, turning a struggling program into a South Jersey powerhouse in quick fashion. The Indians were a combined 14-71 the four years prior to Erica taking over and were a year removed from an 0-20 season.

Things were bad. Bradley made them better.

“I feel like this team has definitely become our family,” Bradley said. “They definitely accepted us as we came in and we were able to set the tone for this program and hopefully we hand this off to someone who is just as willing to spend the time with these kids inside and outside of the gym. But we’re really sad to leave them.”

Scott, who was by Erica’s side as an assistant coach when the job allowed, is a C-17 pilot stationed out of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, who frequently carried out important operational airlift and medical evacuation missions overseas fort the Air Force. He received word after Christmas last year that he’d soon be reassigned. The Air Force suggested July for a moving date, the Bradley's asked to stay a few more months to coach one more volleyball season.

“It was really important, and we talked a lot about it,” Scott said. “You’ve seen what she’s done here. The girls are already heartbroken but being here for a third year is really a turning point especially after losing seven seniors.”

Scott will head to Colorado during the season. Erica will stay in New Jersey with their soon-to-be one-year-old child until the season ends. Their hope is that the Lenape program continues to thrive. Under Bradley, the Indians went 14-8 in 2017, followed by the most wins in school history (18-6) last year.

“We’re teaching those foundational skills as they come into the program as freshmen,” Erica said. “They should be pretty solid for the next couple of years. A lot of them are stepping into club volleyball and putting in the hours after school. We wanted to teach them to be competitive and work to be better as a team.”

With Lenape in her heart, Erica is hoping to continue her love for the game a few time zones away.

“Hopefully I can coach elsewhere,” Erica said. “We’ll see what opportunities present themselves.”

She certainly has the credentials.

Top 5’s

After Monday’s matches, it was time to take a look at some of the statistical categories and recognize who does them best. Of course, we can only go by what is reported by our coaches. So, let’s take look at the top five on each list through Monday.